Labour Force Survey Report, Malaysia, 2014

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is monthly survey conducted by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia to collect information on the characteristics of labour force, unemployment and the structure of employment. This survey has been conducted using personal interview during the period of twelve months in 2014. All states have been covered in this survey including urban and rural strata. This survey is carried out by probability sampling that represents all members of households in Malaysia.

KEY FINDINGS

The Labour Force Survey Report presents the annual statistics for the working age population of 15 to 64 years. The report contains six (6) main indicators of labour force such as statistics on labour force, employed person, unemployment, population outside labour force, labour force participation rate (LFPR) and unemployment rate.

The labour market in Malaysia has demonstrated increase in the labour force participation rate to 67.5 per cent in 2014. The increase of 0.5 percentage point was contributed by the rise in the number of employed persons by 322.1 thousand persons to 13.5 million persons out of the total labour force of 13.9 million persons.

The increase of female employed persons contributed to the increase of the overall LFPR. Female LFPR increased by 1.2 percentage points reaching 53.6 per cent in 2014. Female participations in the labour market were high, exceeding 55.0 per cent[1] for the prime age1 groups that is 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54.

ii. UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment rate dropped to 2.9% in 2014

The unemployment rate in 2014 dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 2.9 per cent due to the decline in the number of unemployed persons by 25.1 thousand persons compared to the previous year.

Female unemployment rate was higher compared to male

Female unemployment rate in 2014 recorded 3.2 per cent which is higher compared to male unemployment rate (2.7%). Nonetheless, the number of unemployed males was higher with 227.5 thousand persons compared to unemployed females (172.0 thousand persons).

Unemployment rate was higher in rural area

The unemployment rate recorded in rural area was 3.0 per cent which is slightly higher compared to the rate in urban area (2.8%). In 2014, the unemployment rates for both areas decreased compared to 2013.

The percentage of employed citizens increased by 0.2 percentage points to 86.8 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013. While the employed non-citizens decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 13.2 per cent in 2014.

In terms of educational attainment, more than half of the employed persons attained secondary education that is 55.5 per cent in 2014, declined by 0.5 percentage points as compared to 2013. However, the percentage of tertiary educated employed persons rose by 1.9 percentage points to 26.4 per cent in 2014. The percentage of employed persons with primary education and no formal education dropped by 1.1 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points respectively.

In 2014, employed persons in the prime age group of 25-54 years rose by 0.4 percentage points to 76.2 per cent.

The population outside the labour force in 2014 was 6.7 million. Among the main factors are due to attending schools and planned to further studies (44.8%), followed by housework that is 42.5 per cent.

The detailed information regarding this report can be accessed through the eStatistik applicaton in Department of Statistics Malaysia website, www.dosm.gov.my.

Released By:

THE OFFICE OF CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIADEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA29 June 2015